Yielding clutch.



.40 the on t ev shaft, so as to revolve therewith.

uname oraison.

i L Yieldimg- Clutch; and I' do hereby declare thatthefollowing is a.full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to theaccompanying drawings.

vThe object of this invention is to provide 'a yielding transmission orclutch -mechanism for the transmission of power, which will. labsorbtheshock of'starting and stopping,

so'as to relieve the machinery. therefrom and from' the effects thereof.It may be applied to any type of transmission mechanism.

The nature of the invention will be understood from the accompanyingdrawings and the following description and claims.

In' the drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of a shaft and oneform of power transmission mechanism. F ig. 2 is a section on the line2- 2 of-Fig: 1. -F ig. 3 is a'section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2. A iThere is shown herein a shaft 10, which maybe either a -driving or adriven shaft, and a pulley 11 loosely mounted thereon, which may also bea driving or a driven pulley, as 'I do notv desire to limit theinvention to any particular arrangement of the driving and drivenmembers. There is also shown herein a clutch mechanism forming a part ofthe power transmission. mechanism and consist-ing of a clutch member 12,slidable on the shaft 10 but rotatable therewith, and

moved bythe clutch lever 13'into or out of engagement with the clutchmember 14. The clutching part of the construction'is of ordinary'typeand may be modified ormitted, although if the clutch member 12 beomitted,

ortion .14 would have to lie-mounted The parts 11 and 14'are bothloosely mount- .ed onthe shaft 10 between collars 30 secured on theshaft. 'Between the members 11 and 4514 a springl is located so as toyieldingly transmit power from one of said members to vthe othermember.A A

The chief feature of this'invention `relates v to the parts '11 and 14and the yielding means '5.0l'l'3etweenthem, regardless of how the other'parts of the device may be constructed; The pulley 11`has a=hubportion-111 and a disk portion 211 forming one side of the sprin0chamber. and a peripheral portionon`whic `the beltvof the pulley runs,The other memspeqiacaumf-iiettersratet- Applicants mai october-fanatic,:serial No, 588,280.-

- pulley.

. ber 14 has a hub 114 loosely mounted on the.

.v Patented'juiy 2 9, i913.

shaft. 10 and projecting within the pulley, andsaid memberhasalsoadisk214'which projects out close to "the-periphery of the A coiledmetallic, spring is secured at one end to the hub 114 of one member andat the other end. toi the periphery ofthe pulley member, as shown inFig, 3. Hence, itis lnclosedinthe chamber between the periphery of thepulle and the disks `211 ,and'214.

-If the shaft 0 be a driving'sh'aft, when lit is started, the initialmovement of the.

member '14 will tend to tighten and coil the spring down. around the huband will gradually transmit power to and start the-pulley so that themechanism driven by the pulley will' be gradually started and receive nosevere shock as -itk wouldfrom the rapid starting of the same. On theother hand, if the pulley be a drlving pulley, the initial movement willcause'thespring to coil and Atighten around on the hubll4 and togradually start the member'14 and-the shaft 10.

l To lock the two members 11 and 14 together, if there shouldaecidentallybe'n reversal of theirmovements, a locking pawl 40 ispivoted to th'e disk 214 and pushed by i a spring41 into engagementwiththe periphery of the pulley.- Hence, when 'the parts are revolved"v inthe wrong direction, these two members will lock together and the'spring will not be injured. l

The strength of the spring mustbe in ,pro-` portion to the maximum powerthatihay be transmitted and during the operation the action of thespring .will automatically adjust itself'to the strain put upon it andwill wind on and olf the hub 114, to some extent,

as the power varies.

I claim as my invention:

1. -Power. transmission mechanism including a shaft, a'pulleymountedaloosely there-4 on, a clutch member loosely mounted on. theshaft 4and separate from the pulley with a disk projecting'towardtlierim of the pulley to form a chamber between the pulley and theclutch member, a spring in said chaine ber and surrounding thevshaftwith one end.

of the spring secured to the hub .of the clutch member and the other endto the rim of the pulley, means on 'one of said members for frictionallvengaging the other member to resist bac Ward movement of the pulleyrelative to the clutch member, anda second with said shaft forcoperating with said f first mentioned clutch member.

2.- Pouertransmission mechanism including a shaft, a pulley mountedloosely thereon and-formed of an outwardly extending hub portion a diskon one side of the hub, a peripheral rim-like portion on said diskprojecting in a direction away'from thehub, a clutch memberseparate fromthe-pulley and having a hub on said shaft-and projecting into the pulleyand adisk projecting from the hub toward the peripheral rim of the ulleyso that the pulley and clutch mem er will form a chamber between them,

a fiat metallic spring within said chamber l about the hub of saidclutch member with one end-of said spring secured to the -hub of engagesaid.irst-menti oned clutch' member- 4 and a spring actuated pawl'pivoted on the first mentioned clutch member and frictionally engagingthe pulleyfor preventing its backward movement relative to the clutch'member. t A Y In Witness whereof, I have Ihereunto aixed my signature`in the presence of the witnesses herein named.

jWitnesses: I G. H. BoINK, v J. H. WELLS.

Washington, D. c.

p. vEiiNs'r MELUN.

Copies of this patent 4may be obtained -for've cents each,` byaddressing` the ommissioner of Patents, l

